Silver mines and silver miners in colonial Peru, 1776-1824.

Abstract

During the late 18th century, the Spanish crown made a determined effort to modernise and revitalise the mining industry, and a period of impressive growth was achieved. As in so many other parts of Spanish America, the struggle to achieve independence from Spain was to bring economic ruin to Peru in the early 19th century. The monograph reviews the situation before 1776, the period of inspection and reorganisation between 1776 and 1786, the mining guild and tribunal and the Nordenflicht Mining Mission, together with such topics as mercury, labour and capital, and the levels of production achieved over the period 1777 to 1825. -John Sheail